Mining & Quarrying

Lead

Lead Mines, Woodhead, Carsphairn

Period:

20th Century

Description:

The lead mine at Woodhead, Carsphairn was one of several mines to open across the region from the late 18th to the mid 19th Centuries. The lead mines of Dumfriesshire and Galloway were the source of almost all Scottish lead production.

This photograph shows the ruins of houses the mine workers would have lived in.

There is evidence of mining for lead ore or galena around Wanlockhead and Leadhills in the Lowther Hills since the Middle Ages. At that time lead was being exported to Holland and Belgium for use in the production of lead glazed pottery. This area, rich in both lead and precious metals, developed into the centre of the Scottish lead mining industry.